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ATC speakers / Monitors

TheBatsEar

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I am one of the suckers that bought an ATC speaker for home use. What a fool i am, considering that ATC is dishonest, behind the curve of innovation and only sells through marketing, as one can learn in this thread and in the measurement of the SCM19 done by Amir.

I pity myself for being so obviously wrong.

1633615691421.gif
 
OP
Pearljam5000

Pearljam5000

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I am one of the suckers that bought an ATC speaker for home use. What a fool i am, considering that ATC is dishonest, behind the curve of innovation and only sells through marketing, as one can learn in this thread and in the measurement of the SCM19 done by Amir.

I pity myself for being so obviously wrong.

View attachment 164341
Lol
What model do you have?
 

unloren

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I'm still trying to understand as to why ATCs are considered the best on the planet on GS, in just about any thread.
They must have some magic to them that in missing.
Not being sarcastic here, but have you heard them/mixed on them?

I had a pair of Amphion one15s on loan for a few weeks and my impression was that, while they didn’t wow me on first listen, the tracks that I worked on while I had them tended to sound more balanced and “professional.” Almost as if they told me what to do throughout the mixing process, such as minimizing clashing frequencies.

I almost hesitate to write this here because it’s anecdotal and doesn’t add much to the conversation, but it leads me to believe that ATCs must be doing something similar that producers find useful. Still, I haven’t used them either and I can’t rule out the hype factor.
 
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Pearljam5000

Pearljam5000

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Not being sarcastic here, but have you heard them/mixed on them?

I had a pair of Amphion one15s on loan for a few weeks and my impression was that, while they didn’t wow me on first listen, the tracks that I worked on while I had them tended to sound more balanced and “professional.” Almost as if they told me what to do throughout the mixing process, such as minimizing clashing frequencies.

I almost hesitate to write this here because it’s anecdotal and doesn’t add much to the conversation, but it leads me to believe that ATCs must be doing something similar that producers find useful. Still, I haven’t used them either and I can’t rule out the hype factor.
I'm not trying to be sarcastic myself, if they're considered not the best on ASR and God sent on GS, then I'm trying understand that gap
 

dfuller

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I'm still trying to understand as to why ATCs are considered the best on the planet on GS, in just about any thread.
They must have some magic to them that in missing.
Have you ever heard a pair? I won't say they're the best speakers for casual listening but I do thoroughly enjoy mixing on them, they "translate well" (as much of a nebulous concept as that is).
 
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Pearljam5000

Pearljam5000

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Have you ever heard a pair? I won't say they're the best speakers for casual listening but I do thoroughly enjoy mixing on them, they "translate well" (as much of a nebulous concept as that is).
Only in videos, they sound pretty good, obviously it's not like hearing them in real life but I can't do it in my country
 

Soundmixer

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Kind of:
Mastering or Mixing can be a series of compromises and many very old myths that should disappear.
There is the idea that mixing and checking on all sorts of systems will make sure everything translates well. To this point I pretty much agree. However there is an exception in mixing and mastering if you want to achieve the absolute best sound for the best systems.
So as I have mentioned before I produce Electronic Music and more towards the Dance Floor Detroit Techno variety (at least the vinyl releases).
Over the years of testing with various dub plates, PA Systems, Including Alpha Dynacord systems I was a tech for I started to notice some things in the flaws of mixing for all systems. This also was noticeable on my own gear at home I spent far too much money on (monitors).

For examples if a mix was mixed to sound good on all systems like cars, boomboxes, earbuds, etc then it would not achieve the best sound on the well tuned Big PA Systems, or better full range home productions. Sure it sounded fine but it was not as good. Dynamics often being the biggest part when compression added. The second part to this observation was in the frequency extremes. When I had worked on headphones or smaller nearfield type monitors thing may sound good in the lower bass to mid high frequencies but lacked that last low octave or rolled off high frequencies. On a big Dance floor system that last little wooomp in the 40Hz down could make the difference in modulation and groove of a bassline that just is not heard on many smaller systems. This is why too many mix engineers remove this, and even mastering engineers.

Anyways I am getting a bit off topic here and I can go on about this but I do believe the more accurate and full frequency, not underpowered a system is the better mastering and mixing will become. Right now (ATC opinion still reserved) it only serves to benefit everyone if our systems are more accurate and we dispel the myths and fiction. This board so far has been decent at starting this conversation.
For examples if a mix was mixed to sound good on all systems like cars, boomboxes, earbuds, etc then it would not achieve the best sound on the well tuned Big PA Systems, or better full range home productions.

You don't mix to the lowest common denominator, you just monitor the sound on those devices. You MIX on the best speakers you are most familiar with. It should be a full frequency speaker system whether you use a sub/sat, large floor standing tower or soffit system

When I had worked on headphones or smaller nearfield type monitors thing may sound good in the lower bass to mid high frequencies but lacked that last low octave or rolled off high frequencies.

If this was the case, then the speakers you are using to mix with are inadequate. I've used headphones as monitoring devices, but I never mix with them. I never use nearfield speakers without a subwoofer, and I certainly would not use a speaker with rolled-off highs.

Anyways I am getting a bit off topic here and I can go on about this but I do believe the more accurate and full frequency, not underpowered a system is the better mastering and mixing will become.

This comment is confusing. You are making the assumption that mixing and mastering folks currently don't use a full frequency system. Maybe low-budget small studios don't, but the larger ones absolutely do. Every mixer and mastering person I know uses full-range high-quality speakers. I don't see many ATC speakers in West Coast studios, I mostly see B&W or JBL speakers. I've seen more PMC speakers than ATC, so I can only assume most studios that use ATC's are located in Europe.
 

TheBatsEar

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807Recordings

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You don't mix to the lowest common denominator, you just monitor the sound on those devices. You MIX on the best speakers you are most familiar with. It should be a full frequency speaker system whether you use a sub/sat, large floor standing tower or soffit system



If this was the case, then the speakers you are using to mix with are inadequate. I've used headphones as monitoring devices, but I never mix with them. I never use nearfield speakers without a subwoofer, and I certainly would not use a speaker with rolled-off highs.



This comment is confusing. You are making the assumption that mixing and mastering folks currently don't use a full frequency system. Maybe low-budget small studios don't, but the larger ones absolutely do. Every mixer and mastering person I know uses full-range high-quality speakers. I don't see many ATC speakers in West Coast studios, I mostly see B&W or JBL speakers. I've seen more PMC speakers than ATC, so I can only assume most studios that use ATC's are located in Europe.
I don't mix to the lowest common denominator but many do and many so called Pro's even mix on macbook speakers. That is no joke and a sad reality.

Mastering I have dealt with some well known and famous names only to get stuff back filtered out and grossly compressed. Yes these are the same ppl who are getting paid and worshipped by many (shocking I know). So just because you have been exposed to good setups for mixing and mastering does not make it actually a standard.
There is no standard in audio and sadly very few people go into a real studio these days, and even if they do we can see just how many studios have been built wrong.
 

Inner Space

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... if they're considered not the best on ASR and God sent on GS, then I'm trying understand that gap
ASR's collective opinion seems to be group-think based on a) iffy results from a single small, passive and discontinued 19; b) casual eyeballing of more current graphs from different dates and different places; and c) an amateur anger that establishment product especially from the UK doesn't seem to conform with allegedly essential virtues, which seem mostly inferred from research into mass-market domestic applications.

GS's collective opinion seems to be group-think based on usage, reputation and anecdote. Occasionally a mixing engineer craves more and more clarity in the midrange, and for most people most of the time, the ATC mid-dome proves to be a solution. The word gets around.

I didn't love ATCs overall, but totally, totally agree about the mid clarity. It really is a thing. I'm a witness. I think ASR should try to figure out why. Which measurements are relevant to the issue, and which aren't?
 

BrokenEnglishGuy

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I don't mix to the lowest common denominator but many do and many so called Pro's even mix on macbook speakers. That is no joke and a sad reality.
In my point of view, people don't realize how good is his setup because they aren't shearching for a good audio setup, most setup you can use a mic and then make a EQ correction profile, plus not too loud listening level and you can work pretty well.

But some people don't have emotions attached to, for example new speakers. Even if the new speakers have better performance they need to find a way to translate his emotions into these speakers that give something nice in his life


But most people mix with cheap stuff.. something at 200$ - 400$ it's very impressive, but i know a lot of people that can hear all the recording in his 10$ earphone..., i think most people don't wanna just a speaker that sound correct because they already have that experience many times


ATC it's a very good brand, but nowdays there is many good performance at lower price, if you are a mixer you don't need the best speakers or the best tweeter, just a correct speaker to work with, the rest its pleasure imho. But also its a old brand and many people its very familiar with his timbre and i guess because you are familiar with the sound of ATC is easier to work with.
I hear a sound engineer say they like the Yamaha hs8 because he know how to work with the Yamaha speaker
 

unloren

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I think ASR should try to figure out why. Which measurements are relevant to the issue, and which arent.

My sentiments exactly. If an ideal listening monitor and an ideal mixing monitor are indeed different, it would be invaluable to identify the criteria of a good mixing monitor and measure for that.
 

BrokenEnglishGuy

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I didn't love ATCs overall, but totally, totally agree about the mid clarity. It really is a thing. I'm a witness. I think ASR should try to figure out why. Which measurements are relevant to the issue, and which aren't?
It's just coloration, ATC don't tune his speakers flat and honest.
You can put whatever word to his FR that you like


A honest speaker should not sound '' very wow, such clarity in mid range ''
 

aac

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a) iffy results from a single small, passive and discontinued
There was also a second model (active, not sure if discontinued) measured and it was "iffy" too.
So unless proven otherwise we can assume they are all "iffy".
 

BrokenEnglishGuy

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I didn't love ATCs overall, but totally, totally agree about the mid clarity. It really is a thing. I'm a witness. I think ASR should try to figure out why. Which measurements are relevant to the issue, and which aren't?
Here is '' clarity '', if you look at mid range for example the voice from atc its mid centric.

index.php




Here is the SCM 40 MK2, it's also kind of mid centric.
 

Ultrasonic

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There was also a second model (active, not sure if discontinued) measured and it was "iffy" too.
So unless proven otherwise we can assume they are all "iffy".

Are you referring to the followng as 'iffy'? Seems harsh to me...

Talking about independent measurements, here are the distortion measurements of the Stereoplay magazine of the active 15000€ pair price ATC SCM 50 A SL Tower FF

1636276637560.png
 

Ultrasonic

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For what it's worth, my listening experience of ATCs has been limited to HiFi shows, but I was very impressed by the active SCM40s the first time I heard them. The SCM50s are decent too but their cost and size make them of less interest to me personally. This was listening at typical home audio distances rather than near-field studio setups.
 
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